Cole has until 4pm on Thursday to respond to the FA charge - the timing far from ideal given England face San Marino at Wembley the following day.

With Bernstein confirming it is up to Hodgson to decide whether or not to play Cole, the only threat to his chances of winning a 99th cap would appear to be if the England manager opts to rest him ahead of the crucial trip to Poland four days later.

Asked about the possibility of Cole being given the armband to mark the occasion, Bernstein said: "To be absolutely honest I doubt it. We've expressed a view on what we need with regard to a captain and I doubt it, but we'll see.

"We've had issues and we've stated publicly many times that we have a very high level of behaviour and so on and so forth required from an English captain."